A COMMUNITY has been left without a evening bus service because of youths attacking vehicles with stones.

The decision was taken to withdraw the 41 and 41a services from Huntington in the interests of driver safety after a number of incidents which culminated in every bus being targeted on Monday night.

The attacks, which started last Monday, also led to the bus being withdrawn on Friday and Saturday night and have mainly been concentrated on Chester Road.

The situation will be reviewed next week.

In the meantime the parish council has written to the Chief Constable to complain about the lack of support from the police in dealing with anti-social behaviour in the village.

Parish councillor Mark Williams said: 'I am disgusted at the behaviour of youths in the area. We need the evening bus services but I do support the drivers and it is right that the service is temporarily suspended.

'My concern is that if this continues the service may be withdrawn permanently.

'I'm also concerned that people have been trying to ring the police on a couple of occasions about this and couldn't get through, they didn't seem to be responding.'

Chairwoman of the parish council Ann Treloar added: 'When you speak to the police they often don't know where Huntington is.

'We'd like to see some high visibility patrols for a few nights to tackle the problem.'

City Cllr John Moore (Lib Dem, Huntington) said: 'These thoughtless actions were endangering the lives of the bus drivers and have also left the people of Huntington without a nightly bus service.

'The incidents have been reported to the police and I have mentioned them to the community safety wardens in the area who will monitor the situation.'

Chesterbus chief inspector Bill Jackson explained the decision to withdraw the service. He said: 'We had to consider the welfare of our drivers.

'It doesn't seem to matter how many times you tell these kids about the dangers of what they're doing, it doesn't get through.'

A Cheshire Police spokeswoman said: 'We responded to a report at 9.28pm on Monday of youths attacking a bus with stones. When officers attended there was nobody in the area.

'These are very dangerous actions that put lives at risk. Anyone with any information should contact Cheshire Police on 0845 458 0000 or Crime Stoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.'